The Formation Of Granite Tors

Tors are landforms created by the erosion and weathering of rock.

The formation of granite tors.

It is a flat topped moorland. At night due to radiate cooling effect the rocks are cooled rapidly and they contract. There is often evidence of spheroidal weathering of the squared joint blocks. Kit mikayi a celebrated tor near kisumu kenya.

The processes resulting in the formation of the dartmoor tors started about 280 million years ago as the granite forming dartmoor cooled and solidified from molten rock at a. The formation of granite tors for gcse geography 9 1. It has a high drainage density due to the impermeable nature of the granite. A batholith is an area of molten rock that has cooled very slowly within the crust creating a rock with large crystals.

Greissen formation occurred in places such as at hemerdon where hydrothermal fluids decomposed the feldspars replacing them with muscovite whilst also depositing metalliferous mineralised veins and stockworks. The granite seen on dartmoor originated as a granite batholith under the surface of the earth. The formation of tors on dartmoor. This feature is not available right now.

It has over 150 rock outcrops called tors which were formed by a combination of. During daytime rocks are expose to the baking sun they expand due to the increase in temperature. Over time the material above the batholith was weathered and removed by rivers and glaciers. Tors are seldom more than 15 metres 50 feet high and often occur as residues at the summits of inselbergs and at the highest points of pediments.

Alternate contraction and expansion of the rock cause the joints or cracks present in the rock to be widen. Tors usually overlie unaltered bedrock and are thought to be formed either by freeze thaw weathering or by groundwater weathering before exposure. Most commonly granites but also schists dacites dolerites ignimbrites coarse sandstones and others. Weathering of the dartmoor granite began almost as soon as it had solidified.

Tors are mostly less than 5 meters 16 ft high. Please try again later.